BY TEKLEBIRHAN GEBREMICHAEL
“Ignorance is bliss,” said Prof. Tsehaye to her colleague Prof. Almaz. “It is a proverb that has stood the test of time since it was coined some two hundred eighty years ago by the great English poet Thomas Gray, but now, so very many years later, I am determined to examine the veracity of its message,” Prof. Almaz replied.
“I am glad you have set yourself that epic task, but let us first talk about what it exactly means. Does it mean the absence of knowledge constitutes real happiness or does it just mean that isolating somebody from the bad news protects him from being emotionally pained?” Prof. Tsehaye said, apparently broaching a professional dissection of the meaning and interpretation of the proverb.
We know from everyday parlance that the proverb is usually uttered to spare someone the negative psycho-emotional effects of an unfavorable piece of news or information. One might, for example, say the proverb of a feeble, 80-year old cardiac case enjoying a glass of beer and a nice, cozy chat with an old pal, who has not yet been informed of the fact that his house is on fire. But it may also be said of a young man swimming in a lake contaminated with schistosomiasis or bilharzia.
The problem with the latter person is that he may continue to engage in the practice until he is convinced of the fact by his own or other people’s afflictions from the disease, i.e. he may continue to enjoy his swimming in the lake under the cover of “ignorance is bliss”.
“Well, that is the common –sense interpretation of the proverb. At a higher level it may be too complicated to elucidate easily. The more you know, the more you want to know, throwing you into a frenzy of passionate desire to know more and more, until probably you turn yourself into some kind of a nutty professor.
Compare the restless mind and soul of such a nutty professor with the strokes, wriggles and wiggles of the frolicking young man in the contaminated lake. Which would you like to be, assuming that you have no knowledge of the contamination of the lake?” Prof Almaz said.
“If I were identical with the swimming young man I would do exactly as he did. The problem is that I am not identical with the young man and I cannot effectively unlearn the devastating ravages of the schistosomiasis which means I would not like to be the swimming young man.
In fact, knowing what I know now, I would rather be the nutty professor, because I know the immense amount of pleasure and joy that more knowledge about the subject of one’s study brings.
If I had gone all the way and discovered the double helix of DNA, like james Watson and Francis Crick did, my happiness would have known no bounds and I would have been on top of the world!” Prof. Tsehaye replied.
“You might add that you would have been a million dollars richer by winning the Nobel Prize for molecular biology! Well, what you are in fact saying is that bliss from ignorance is a sort of Pyrrhic victory temporarily enjoyed at too high a delayed cost. Well, if we look at the proverb from the national perspective (by national I mean country–wide and not the accursed Stalinist –Leninist meaning derived from ‘nationalities’), it seems to have had disastrous effects. For example, in Ethiopia not knowing (or realizing) that democracy is the dynamo that unleashes the amazing potentialities of the human brain which, of course, are the basis for the wonders of human progress in science, technology and economic development, has made democracy a matter of tertiary importance worth no more than sanctimonious lip–service.
Can you imagine the horrendous damage that the ‘ignorance –is–bliss’ mode we have been in for decades has done to the level, quality and scope of development we might have attained? Some analysts indicate that had Ethiopia adopted a fairly democratic political system and vibrant free –enterprise economy, say in the 1960’s, it might now have been at least two thirds on a par with South –Korea” , Prof. Almaz fully concurred in what Prof. Tsehaye said.
“Well, it seems we are sort of preaching to the converted, because we both seem to agree on the point that the ‘ignorance is bliss’ proverb is a self –defeating adage with disastrous particularly long –term consequences,” Prof. Tsehaye commented.
“So, what shall we pronounce on this very old, nearly 300 years old, proverb?” Professor Almaz asked.
Prof. Tsehaye furrowed her brow in deep reflection for a moment, looked like she was going to speak by opening her mouth but shut it back again in apparent doubt and hesitation.
Prof. Almaz asked: “Anything the matter with you?”
“No, not really. I was a bit confused about the real meaning of the proverb. Bliss sounds heavenly and it is, therefore, unrealistic for humans on earth after Adam sinned and fell from grace. Bliss on earth is highly desirable but almost unattainable. Bliss has a connotation of being everlasting as in eternal bliss but people also speak of ‘wedded bliss’ but about 50 percent of marriages in America end in divorce! Moreover, knowledge is gained from information and, as we all know, there is positive and negative information.
Hence, knowledge of positive information like when your teacher informs you that your GPA (grade point average) is 3.8 out of 4, it makes you very happy and blissful. Of course the opposite scenario would throw you into a bout of melancholy.
‘Ignorance is bliss’ assumes the absence of knowledge of both positive and negative information, which in fact means that the human brain has abdicated its natural function of knowing. It is the natural function of the human brain to know! If it renounces this basic natural function it might as well be considered as dead.
Hence, a person who seriously adheres to the proverb of ‘ignorance is bliss’ may well be thought as being brain dead,” Prof. Tsehaye expatiated on the controversial proverb, finally heaving a sigh of relief after having done so.
“I am afraid your pronouncement on the nice old proverb is not likely to be favorable. At any rate, I am sure you have done what you should do in explaining the subtle interpretations of the proverb in a thoroughly professional manner as would be expected of perhaps the most distinguished professor in our beloved university, Addis Ababa University”, Prof. Almaz said.
Then, as Prof. Tsehaye and Prof. Almaz were walking out of the university cafeteria, where they had their heated discussion, towards their respective lecture rooms, Prof .Almaz’s cell phone rang.
“Hello, who’s speaking?”
“Dr. Amare from Black Lion Hospital”, said the person on the other end.
Prof. Almaz’s heart literally stopped for a second. She could hardly speak.
“How is my lovely kid? What is your diagnosis?” he asked nervously.
“He is relatively ok, but repeated tests indicate that he has leukemia. Luckily, it is not AML, i.e. acute myeloid leukemia. You probably know that is the most lethal type”, Dr, Amare said.
Prof. Almaz broke into tears and ended the call. Prof. Tsehaye tried to console her best friend by hugging her, but Prof. Almaz was inconsolable weeping ever more profusely into Prof. Tsehaye’s bosom. Prof. Almaz immediately got into her car and drove straight to Black Lion Hospital to see her lovely 8–year old kid, Tewodros. He was comfortably lying in his hospital bed and was overjoyed to see his mother for the second time that day.
“Mamma, I love you. I feel ok. The doctors and nurses here are just like you and dad. They have been so nice to me. I feel perfectly at home”, Tewodros said. “Ok! Teddy, you are the loveliest kid in the whole wide world. I love you more than myself. How are you feeling today?” Prof. Almaz said hugging her kid.
“Mama, why do I have to stay in hospital? I want to go back home and to school and play with my friends”, Tewodros asked.
“That is for the doctors to decide. They want to make you perfectly healthy so you can beat your friends at volleyball and football and at all the games you play with them”, Prof. Almaz tried to convince her child to stay under medical care.
Prof. Almaz then turned to the doctor who was doing his rounds and happened to be in Tewdros’ hospital room at the time and asked him: “Thank you doctor for all that you are doing for the sick and the suffering . How do you assess the prognosis for my son?”
“Thank you. Well, my own prognosis is as good as excellent. Your kid should be up and running in perfect health in a matter of a few days. It appears the disease has gone into permanent remission,” the doctor replied.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough for the good news, Doctor. It is such a relief to know that your kid is back to normal”, Prof. Almaz said.
“Well, Madame, I should tell you that I am only about 95 percent certain that the disease is in permanent remission. It will take me a few weeks and check –ups to be 100 percent sure,” the doctor said.
Before she has time to respond to the doctor’s reservations Prof. Almaz’s husband, Dr. Nebyat, who was in Washington D.C for an international conference, called his wife and asked: “How are you, honey. I miss you and Tewdros so much. How is Tewdros ?”
Prof. Almaz experienced the fastest mental processing in her entire life. In no more than two seconds she decided not to terrorize her husband with the dread word leukemia and answered: “You have no idea how much I miss you too. Tewdros is just fine. It was just a bad strain of flu. Do come home soon, honey, I love you”. Then she thought to herself: “Indeed, ignorance is bliss”. Thomas Gray was right, after all!”
The Ethiopian Herald December 8/2020
